Amazon’s head of devices, David Limp, plans to retire as part of a wave of executives that have been leaving Amazon in the last year. Also, next year Alexa and the Amazon Echo will be 10 years old, which prompted us to take a look at the role Alexa and the Amazon Echo have played in the smart home, along with what has and hasn’t changed. Our concerns about the state of the smart home are perfectly illustrated by this review of the Mill composting system created by Nest co-founder Matt Rodgers, and the news that Masonite is now selling its expensive smart door at Home Depot. There’s positive news as well, as the FCC releases its Notice of Proposed Rule Making for the IoT cybersecurity label. Y’all have 30 days to comment, so get on it. Then we talk about Microsoft’s discovery of a new set of vulnerabilities affecting industrial equipment, and a new company that will become a secondary source of Z-Wave chips. Kevin also shared his review of the Homey Pro smart home hub, which is expensive but allows users to control their devices locally. Finally, we answer a listener question about what light bulb a woodworker should use in a lamp he’s trying to build.

Our guest this week is Mariusz Malkowski, founder and CTO of Trident IoT, who tells us about the company’s origin and what it means for the Z-Wave community. He also explains how Matter will work with Z-Wave, and the importance of bridging between the two standards. We discuss the future of Z-Wave, including the plans for Z-Wave Long Range and planned security upgrades. We then cover how Trident is going to build Z-Wave chips, but also how it will focus on building or integrating other smart home radio protocols into devices, and will act as a Z-Wave certification house as well. Enjoy the show.
I easily spent more because of Alexa. Alexa became a great Integrator of the smart home. My early wink and smart things hubs became simple bridge to get my devices into the Alexa app. All my automations lived in the Alexa app not the smart things or other apps.
Hello @Lawrence K,
Thank you for sharing your experience with Alexa and how it has seamlessly integrated into your smart home setup.
Alexa has indeed become a powerful hub for many smart home enthusiasts, offering a user friendly interface and excellent device compatibility. It’s fantastic to hear that it simplified your setup and centralized your automations.
Smart home technology is all about making life more convenient, and it sounds like you’ve achieved that with your setup. If you ever have any questions about expanding or optimizing your smart home further, or if you’re interested in exploring other smart homes technologies like Z-Wave, feel free to reach out to us at [email protected]
Best regards,
Trident IoT – Support Team